
Glass \- U^ 
Book J<5a. 



J»>t> 




MEMORIAL 



OF 



The Hon. JOHN ALSOP KING 








*^^t&> 



MEMORIAL 



OF 



The Hon. JOHN ALSOP KING 



EIGHTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



BY 

The Very Rev. EUGENE A. HOFFMAN 

D.D. (OXON.), LL.D., D. C. L. 



READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY, FEBRUARY 5, 1901 



NEW YORK 

PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 

1901 



rr', . 



p. 

Mr. A R. Spof f orcU 
Ag. ,22/01. 



Officers of the Society, 1901 



PRESIDENT, 

THE VERY REV. EUGENE A. HOFFMAN 

D.D. (OXON.), LL.D., D.C.L. 
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT, 

J. PIERPONT MORGAN. 

SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT, 

JOHN S. KENNEDY. 

FOREIGN CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 

NICHOLAS FISH. 

DOMESTIC CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 

FREDERIC WENDELL JACKSON. 

RECORDING SECRETARY, 

SYDNEY H. CARNEY, Jr., M.D. 

TREASURER, 

CHARLES A. SHERMAN. 

LIBRARIAN, 

ROBERT H. KELBY. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



FIRST CLASS — FOR ONE YEAR, ENDING 1902. 

F. ROBERT SCHELL, DANIEL PARISH, Jr., 

FREDERIC WENDELL JACKSON. 

SECOND CLASS — FOR TWO YEARS, ENDING I903. 

NICHOLAS FISH, ISAAC J. GREENWOOD, 

FRANCIS H. MARKOE, M.D. 

THIRD CLASS — FOR THREE YEARS, ENDING 1904. 

JOHN S. KENNEDY, GEORGE W. VANDERBILT, 

CHARLES ISHAM. 

FOURTH CLASS — FOR FOUR YEARS, ENDING I905. 

JOHN A. WEEKES, J. PIERPONT MORGAN, 

JOHN J. TUCKER. 

JOHN J. TUCKER, Chairman, 
DANIEL PARISH, Jr., Secretary. 

[The President, Recording Secretary, Treasurer, and Librarian 
are members, ex-officio, of the Executive Committee.] 



At a stated meeting of the New York Historical Society, 
held in its Hall, on Tuesday evening, February 5, 1901, Dean 
Hoffman read a Memorial of the Hon. John Alsop King, 
late President of the Society. 

On its conclusion the Librarian submitted the following 
resolution, which was adopted unanimously : 

Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to 
Dean Hoffman for his graceful and appropriate tribute to 
Mr, King, late President of the Society, and that a copy be 
requested for publication. 

Extract from the minutes. 

Sydney H. Carney, Jr., 

Recording Secretary. 



HON. JOHN ALSOP KING. 



John Alsop King, late President of the New 
York Historical Society, departed this life on 
Wednesday, November 21, 1900. 

He was descended from an English family, the 
first member of which in this country, John King, 
came from Kent, England, about the year 1 700, and 
settled in Boston. John King left, by his second 
wife, several children, of whom the eldest, Richard, 
was born in Boston in 1718. 

Richard King received a liberal education, which 
prepared him for the active duties of his later years. 
In the spring of 1745, on the invitation of Governor 
Shirley, of Massachusetts, he was actively engaged 
in raising men to join him in the famous expedition 
sent against Cape Breton, which resulted in the 
capture of the fortress of Louisburg. Although he 
devoted the later years of his life to mercantile 
pursuits, being the largest exporter of lumber in 
the State of Maine (then part of the Province of 
Massachusetts), the fragments of his writings which 
remain "evince his familiarity with the ancient 
classics, his political sagacity, his prudence and 
solid common-sense." 

By his first wife, who was Isabella Bragdon, of 
York, Me., he had three children, the eldest being 
Rufus, the grandfather of our late President. 

9 



Rufus King- was born in Scarborough, Me., March 
24> 1755- He entered Harvard College at the age 
of eighteen, and although of a susceptible and ardent 
temperament, and sharing in the opposition to the 
measures of the British Government, he seems to 
have pursued his studies with diligence, without suf- 
fering the excitement of the times to interfere with 
his education. On the resumption of the academic 
exercises at Cambridge after the occupation of the 
university buildings for military purposes, he was 
graduated with much distinction in 1777. He then 
pursued the study of law in Newburyport, Mass,, 
under the direction of Theophilus Parsons, afterward 
Chief Justice of Massachusetts. Two years later 
we find him attached to the expedition of Governor 
Sullivan to take Rhode Island, and from this time 
forward he was actively engaged in the service of 
his country. He was a member of the General 
Court of Massachusetts in 1783, and a representa- 
tive from New England in the Continental Congress, 
sitting at Trenton, N. J., from 1784 to 1786, where 
"his vigorous oratory and a rare combination of 
personal and intellectual endowments made him a 
prominent figure." In this Congress he introduced 
a resolution to adopt an act prohibiting slavery. 
In 1787, as a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention, he drafted an instrument which bound the 
States for the first time in one strong^ federation. 

On March 31, 1786, he was married to Mary, 
only child of John Alsop, of New York. The Al- 
sops were descended from the English family of 
that name, who came from Alsop, in Derbyshire, 
and settled in Newtown, Long Island, in the sev- 
enteenth century. John Alsop was the grandson 



of the first Alsop who settled here. He became 
eminent as a poHtician, represented the City of New 
York in the Colonial Legislature and, was a dele- 
gate to the first Continental Congress in 1774. He 
was not in Congress when the independence of the 
American colonies was declared, but was at the 
time a member of the New York Convention, and 
on the adoption of the declaration of independence 
by the convention, he resigned his seat. He sur- 
vived the Revolution, living in New York until his 
death, in 1794. He was a devoted churchman, and 
for many years a vestryman of Trinity Church, 
New York. 

Rufus King was described at the time of his mar- 
riage as passing for " the most eloquent man in the 
United States," but so modest that "he appeared 
ignorant of his own worth ;" while his bride, " a 
most estimable lady," we are told, was remarkable 
for her personal beauty : " her motions were all 
grace, her bearing gracious, her voice musical, and 
her education exceptional." After their marriage 
they resided with her father, Mr. John Alsop, in his 
house at the corner of Maiden Lane and William 
Street, and mingled in the best society of the me- 
tropolis. The diary of President Washington at 
this time makes frequent mention of the young cou- 
ple, who were constant visitors at the Presidential 
mansion. 

Mr. King, having thus become a citizen of New 
York, was in 1 789 chosen to the State Legislature, 
where "he received the unexampled welcome of an 
immediate election, with General Schuyler, to the 
Senate of the United States." He was very rarely 
absent from his seat, and efficiently promoted the 



establishment of the new government and the 
measures and policy of what was known as the 
Federal party. He earnestly advocated the send- 
ing of Mr. Jay as a special envoy to England to 
settle the questions threatening the peace between 
the United States and Great Britain, and when a 
treaty was made with the British Government he 
defended it in the Senate, in public meetings, and 
in writing, being the author of a number of influen- 
tial letters on the subject, published by Alexander 
Hamilton, under the signature of " Camillus." 

He was re-elected to the United States Senate 
in 1795 for a term of six years, but resigned 
in 1796, having been in that year appointed by 
President Washington Minister Plenipotentiary to 
Great Britain — a nomination he had previously 
declined. He was recommended for this post by 
Alexander Hamilton as " a gentleman of integrity, 
fortune, agreeable address, good judgment, and 
sound morals, and one whose situation, as well as 
character, afforded good ground of confidence." 
He remained at the Court of St. James during 
the remainder of the administration of Washington, 
throughout the whole of that of Adams, and a part 
of that of Jefferson — until 1804. During his term 
of office he secured many important modifications 
of the commercial relations between the two coun- 
tries, and having won the confidence of the British 
Government by his intelligent, courteous, and firm 
presentation of the matters under discussion, claimed 
and obtained for his country the respect accorded 
to it as one of the important powers of the world. 

Returning to America in 1804, he carried out a 
long-cherished plan of retiring from public life by 



purchasing the property at Jamaica, Long Island, 
which has since been known as the " King Manor." 
This he made his home, and here he occupied him- 
self in its improvement, in hunting and fishing, in the 
cultivation of his already well-stored mind, in the 
study and observation of the political questions of 
the day, and in a large and extensive correspond- 
ence. The manor is now the property of the city, 
and is leased at a moderate rental to the "King 
Manor Association of Long Island." 

In 1813 he was again elected United States Sen- 
ator, and was nominated for the office of Governor 
of New York, and also for the Presidency of the 
United States, in opposition to James Monroe. In 
the Senate he continued his efforts to put an end 
to slavery and to prevent its extension into newly 
admitted States. At the close of his fourth Sena- 
torial term, though desirous to retire again from 
public life, he was prevailed upon in 1825 by Presi- 
dent John Quincy Adams to accept the post of Min- 
ister to Great Britain ; but after a year's service his 
health failed, and he returned home. He died in 
New York, April 29, 1827, universally beloved and 
respected. 

The sons of Rufus King were remarkable and 
/ accomplished men. John Alsop was Governor of 
' the State of New York ; Charles was a journalist 
and scholar, and the author of many valuable works, 
being the editor of the New York American from 
1827 to 1845, and President of Columbia College 
from 1849 to 1864; and James Gore, who was 
Adjutant- General in the War of 1812, founded 
the great banking house of James Gore King & 
Sons, was a member of Congress from 1829 to 

13 



1851, and President of the New York Chamber 
of Commerce. 

/ John Alsop King, eldest son of Rufus King, and 
father of our late President, was born in New York, 
January 3, 1788. He was educated chiefly in Eng- 
land, at Harrow School, where he was a class-mate 
of Lord Byron, and later was sent to finish his 
schooling at Paris. On his return to New York 
he studied law, and was admitted to the bar. Dur- 
ing the War of 181 2 he served as a lieutenant of 
cavalry, and is described as being, in his military 
capacity, a remarkable disciplinarian, and command- 
ing a troop composed almost exclusively of young 
men from the leading families, as fine a body of 
men as ever paraded the streets of New York. 

He married, January 3, 18 10, Mary, daughter of 
Cornelius and Elizabeth Elmendorf Ray, by whom 
he had three sons and four daughters. The Rays 
were an old New York family, the founder of which 
in this country emigrated from Exeter, in Devon- 
shire, England, at the close of the sixteenth century. 

He was elected a member of the New York Leg- 
islature in 1 8 19, and was subsequently re-elected 
several times, resigning his place in the State Sen- 
ate in 1825 to accompany his father to the Court of 
St. James as Secretary of the Legation, and remain- 
ing in England as Charge cT Affaires when his father 
was compelled on account of ill-health to return to 
America. In 1849 ^^ was elected by the Whig 
party to Congress, where he opposed the Fugitive 
Slave Law very strongly, and advocated the admis- 
sion of California as a free State ; he was also a warm 
supporter of General Fremont at the Philadelphia 
Convention of 1856. In this year he was elected 

14 



Governor of the State of New York, giving during 
his term of office particular attention to educational 
matters and to internal reforms. He declined a re- 
nomination, and in 1859 retired to private Hfe; but 
consented in 1 861, at the urgent request of Gov- 
ernor Morgan, to leave his seclusion to become a 
member of the Peace Convention. 

His later years were spent at the Manor House 
in Jamaica, which he had occupied since the death 
of his father in 1827. Here he entertained many 
of the political and literary celebrities of the day. 
He is said to have devoted much time and money 
to beautifying the grounds, and many of the fine old 
trees between the house and the street were planted 
by him. He was a prominent member of the Epis- 
copal Church, and eminent in its councils, and was 
justly esteemed by all who knew him. He died 
at Jamaica, July 7, 1867. 

I have not hesitated to recount these particulars 
of the ancestors of our late President, because they 
furnish a key to his character and life. They were 
all men of marked ability, devoted to the service of 
their country, and distinguished for their integrity 
of character, both in their public and private lives. 

John Alsop King, Jr., our late President, the sec- 
ond son of Governor John Alsop King, and Mary 
Ray, his wife, was born at Jamaica, N. Y., on 
the 14th day of July, 1817. His early years were 
passed at Jamaica, where he was educated at the 
Union Hall Academy, the classical school of Dr. 
Louis E. A. Eigenbrodt. At the early age of fifteen 
he entered Harvard College, in the sophomore 
class, and was graduated from that institution with 

15 



much credit. For a short time afterward he was a 
clerk in the house of Ebenezer Stevens, but, disHk- 
ing the business, he took up the study of law, and 
when admitted to the bar practised his profession 
for several years in New York. 

He married, February 21, 1839, at Hell Gate, 
New York, Mary Golden Rhinelander, the only 
daughter of Philip and Mary Golden Hoffman 
Rhinelander, of New York. Soon after this he 
went to Europe, spending some years in travel 
there, a visit which was several times repeated. 
His last journey extended to Egypt, where he and 
his family remained for a winter. 

In 1854 he bought a beautiful point of land on 
Long Island Sound, part of the Hewlett Point prop- 
erty, where he built a house and made his home for 
the remainder of his life. His tastes led him to 
become a member of the agricultural societies of 
Queens Gounty, and he took an active part in their 
proceedings, as well as a deep interest in all the 
affairs of the neighborhood, both political and re- 
ligious. Here, as elsewhere, his genial disposition 
and courteous manners won for him the esteem of 
those with whom he was brought into contact. 

The Republican Party of that day was guided by 
the principles which he had inherited, and he be- 
came interested in promoting them. His first pub- 
lic appointment was as Presidential Elector in 1872 ; 
this was followed by an election to the State Senate, 
in which he served during the years 1874-1875. 
He was a zealous supporter and defender of the 
Erie Ganal, and of the constitutional amendments 
which brought about many reforms in the State 
government. With the aid of the members of the 

16 



First District, he succeeded in securing the repeal 
of the infamous act of 1868 by which, unknown to 
the owners, the salt meadow water fronts of Staten 
and Long Islands had been sold for a trifling sum 
to a land company. For his services in procuring 
the passage of the act establishing the Court of 
Arbitration he received a vote of thanks from the 
New York Chamber of Commerce. In the year 
1876 he was nominated in his district for the office 
of Representative in the National Congress, but was 
defeated, as he was also in 1880, the district being 
strongly Democratic. 

In 1 88 1 Mr. King was appointed by Governor 
Cornell the Commissioner for the State of New 
York to receive and extend the courtesies and hos- 
pitalities of the State to the delegation from France 
and the other foreign guests invited by the United 
States to take part at Yorktown in the centennial 
celebration. Both duties were faithfully performed. 

From that time, though still interested in the 
welfare of his party, he was no longer prominent 
in politics, but devoted himself to other pursuits 
for which he had long felt a deep concern. These 
were chiefly in connection with the church in which 
he was brought up, and which was that of his 
affections, the Protestant Episcopal Church. His 
desire to promote its interests and to do good in 
his generation was shown by his connecting him- 
self with Zion Church at Little Neck, Long Island, 
of which he was for many years a warden, and 
afterward by his materially aiding in building the 
Church of All Saints at Great Neck, of which 
he was every year elected a warden up to the 
close of his life. He was a delegate to the Dioc- 

17 



esan Convention of New York, from Grace Church, 
Jamaica, from 1850 to 1866; and, after the division 
of the Diocese of New York, a delegate to the Long 
Island Diocesan Convention, from Zion Church, 
Little Neck, from 1863 to 1887, and from All Saints' 
Church, Great Neck, from 1888 to the date of his 
death. During all these years he was a member 
of important committees of the diocesan conventions, 
and was always present at their meetings, except 
when absent from the country. He was a Trustee 
of the Fund for Aged and Infirm Clergymen from 
the year 1869, and a Trustee of the General Theo- 
logical Seminary from the year 1872. Both of these 
offices, as well as those of member of the Board of 
Managers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary 
Society and Trustee of King Hall, Washington, 
D. C, founded and largely endowed by himself, for 
the higher education of the colored race, he held up 
to the time of his death. He was a deputy to the 
Federal Council on every occasion, from its forma- 
tion in 187 1, and a deputy to eight successive Tri- 
ennial General Conventions of the Church. He 
was also a lay member of the Cathedral Chapter 
of Long Island, and, following the example of his 
ancestors, he was a liberal benefactor of Grace 
Church, Jamaica. He and his wife were greatly 
interested in the New York Blind Asylum, of which 
he was a manager, and it has been truly said that 
in all his efforts to promote benevolent objects his 
wife and daughters were ever ready to join with 
him. 

Mr. King became a member of the New York 
Historical Society in 188 1. In 1887 he was elected 
its eighteenth President, and, devoting himself to its 

18 



interests, was annually re-elected to the same office. 
He delivered the address at the eighty-third anni- 
versary of the founding- of the society, November 
15, 1887, the subject of his address being "The 
Framing of the Federal Constitution and the Causes 
leading thereto." This address was published by 
the society. At the meeting held June 5, 1900, 
Mr. King presented and read a memorial of Robert 
Schell, late treasurer of the society. 

He was very seldom missing from the presidential 
chair at the monthly meetings of the society, and 
was a frequent visitor to the library, looking over, 
with Mr. Kelby, the librarian, the latest additions 
to the books and manuscripts. The last time he 
presided was at the meeting on October 2d. Mr. 
King's elder brother, Dr. Charles Ray King, is the 
oldest member of the society. 

Our late President was deeply interested in pro- 
curing a new building for the society, and it was 
under his inspiration that ten full city lots in the 
block between Seventy-sixth and Seventy-seventh 
streets, west of the Park, was purchased as a site 
for the purpose. He had intended, early in the new 
year, to call a meeting of the society, to take steps 
for raising the money to build at least a part of it. 

This is but an imperfect summary of the many 
good deeds of our friend's busy and well-spent life. 
It reveals a man of marked manliness of character, 
with a singularly sweet and loving disposition. 
Holding decided views, conscientiously maintained, 
on questions which came before him, they were not 
put forward without a due regard for those who dif- 
fered from him. Notwithstanding the multiplicity 
of works in which he engaged, they were always 

19 



accompanied with such modesty and reticence that 
few even of his intimate friends were aware of the 
energy and punctuality with which he devoted him- 
self to duties which he voluntarily assumed for the 
good of others. Of all the boards and committees 
of which he was a member he was never absent 
from a meeting, unless prevented by other impera- 
tive duties. For twenty years it has been my priv- 
ilege to sit beside him in the Board of Managers of 
our Missionary Society. In all that time I have 
been a constant observer of the careful and consci- 
entious manner in which he discharged its impor- 
tant responsibilities. In addition to all these public 
duties, how many days and hours he devoted to 
personal acts of kindness will never be known until 
that day when their recipients will rise up and call 
him blessed. His heart and his head were always 
open to every appeal of suffering and want. 

Such was the honorable and noble life of our late 
President — devoted to the good of others, free in 
every stage of it from the reproach of weakness or 
of personal ends, marked throughout by high aims, 
conscientiously carried out, by an enlightened love 
of goodness, and by the unhesitating devotion of 
the individual, his faculties, and his possessions to 
the service of God and his fellow-men. 

In private life he was what we are accustomed to 
describe as a gentleman of the old school. As the 
Bishop of Long Island has truthfully recorded : 
" Manners with him was a phase of morals. Cour- 
tesy and politeness were in his view only other 
names for benevolence in small things. He not 
only believed in saying what is true and doing what 
is right, but in saying and doing it with kindly re- 



pfard to the feelings and circumstances of others. 
His gracious affability was more than a sentiment, 
because it stood for the dignity of a principle." 

Lastly, I do not hesitate to hold up his life as a 
pattern of an humble, sincere, and devout Christian 
man. Accepting with his whole heart the funda- 
mental truths of the Christian faith, as set forth in 
the ancient creeds, illustrating them in his daily 
walk and conversation, his constant aim was, as the 
Lord requires : " to do justly, to love mercy, and to 
walk humbly with his God." 

And so when the end came it was in keeping with 
his life. As every Christian should desire to die — 
surrounded by his children, with mental abilities 
unabated, receiving from a beloved pastor the last 
viaticum, — he calmly fell asleep, and was "gathered 
unto his fathers, having the testimony of a good 
conscience, in the communion of the Catholic Church, 
in the confidence of a certain faith, in the comfort of 
a reasonable, religious, and holy hope, in favor with 
his God, and in perfect charity with the world." 

His funeral services were held in St. Thomas's 
Church, which, though the weather was very stormy, 
was filled with the representatives of the various in- 
stitutions for which he had labored, and large num- 
bers of the leading men of the city. His body was 
laid in the grave by the side of his ancestors and 
kindred, under the shadow of the old church at Ja- 
maica, Long Island, in sure and certain hope of the 
resurrection and the life of the world to come. 
There we left it with the words on our lips and in 
our hearts : " Blessed are the dead who die in the 
Lord ; even so saith the Spirit, for they rest from 
their labors." 

21 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY 



At a special meeting of the Executive Committee of 
the New York Historical Society held Thursday, Novem- 
ber 22, 1900, the following resolutions were adopted by a 
rising vote : 

Resolved, That the Executive Committee has received 
with profound sensibility the announcement of the death 
of the Hon. John Alsop King, President of the society. 

Resolved, That this committee will attend the funeral 
services at St. Thomas's Church, Fifth Avenue and Fifty- 
third Street, on Saturday, November 24th, at 9.30 A.M., 
and respectfully requests the members of the society to 
join in this tribute of respect. 

Resolved, That the Very Rev. Eugene A. Hoffman, 
D.D., be invited to prepare and present to the society, 
at some future meeting, a memorial of the Hon. John 
Alsop King, President of the society. 

Resolved, That Mr. Nicholas Fish, Mr. Frederic Wen- 
dell Jackson and Dr. Sydney H. Carney, Jr., be appointed 
a committee to prepare suitable resolutions on the death 
of Mr. King, to be reported at the next meeting of the 
society. 

Resolved, That the building of the society be closed 
Saturday, November 24. 

Extract from the Minutes, 

Daniel Parish, Jr., 
Secretary. 

At a stated meeting of the New York Historical 
Society, held on Tuesday evening, December 4, 1900, 
Mr. Nicholas Fish, Mr. Frederic Wendell Jackson, and 

25 



Dr. Sydney H. Carney, Jr., the committee appointed 
to prepare resolutions on the death of Mr. King, re- 
ported the following preamble and resolutions, which 
were adopted by a rising vote : 

Since its last regular meeting, in November, it has been 
the fate of the New York Historical Society to mourn the 
loss of its venerable President. John Alsop King died in 
this city on Wednesday, November 21, 1900, in the 
eighty-fourth year of his age. He became a member of 
this society in the year 1881. In 1887 he was elected its 
President, and was annually re-elected to the same office. 
The ability, grace, and dignity which were his characteris- 
tics in the discharge of the duties of his office are known 
to us all. Endowed by nature with a kindly and gener- 
ous disposition, his fine qualities were further developed 
by a classical education, and by intercourse with the lead- 
ing men of the world. Born at Jamaica, L. I., on July 14, 
1817, he graduated at Harvard University in 1835, studied 
the profession of law, and afterward was chosen Presiden- 
tial Elector in 1872. He served as a member of the New 
York State Senate 1874-75. 

During his whole association with the New York His- 
torical Society, either as member or officer, he devoted 
himself to its interests in a singular degree. To his un- 
tiring efforts the society owes the magnificent site se- 
lected for its future home, and it was the dream and hope 
of his last years that a building worthy of this venerable 
society be erected thereon. 

Fully realizing the great loss it has sustained, the soci- 
ety desires to record the sincere respect, gratitude, and 
affection with which it cherishes the memory of its de- 
ceased President, and it is therefore 

Resolved, That in the death of the Hon. John Alsop 
King the New York Historical Society laments the loss 
of an accomplished presiding officer, whose courtesy, tact, 
and sound judgment have stamped its proceedings with 
dignity; whose personality contributed largely to its 

26 



prosperity, and whose unselfish devotion to its interest 
will be held in grateful memory by every member of this 
society. 

Resolved, That an attested copy of this minute be com- 
municated to the family of Mr. King, with the expression 
of the sincere sympathy of the New York Historical 
Society in their deep sorrow. 

Extract from the Minutes, 

Sydney H. Carney, 
Recording Secretary. 



27 



LB N '10 



p 



